16 March 2010 Op-Ed in The State

A smarter way to focus education dollars

Three new articles accepted. . .

I am very excited about these pieces and will post when they are published:

Thomas, P. L. (2010, July/September). The Payne of addressing race and poverty in public education: Utopian accountability and deficit assumptions of middle class America. Souls, 12(3). TBD.

-----. (accepted). “A respect for the past, a knowledge of the present, and a concern for the future”: The role of history in English Education. English Education. TBD.

-----. (accepted). Diving into genre—A case for literature as T(t)ruth. Notes on American Literature. TBD.

Poetry publication history

Thomas, P. L. (2011, March). quilting. English Journal, 100(4), TBD.

-----. (2008, September). horae. English Journal, 98(1), 15.

-----. (2008). billboard, drawn to two. In Ed. R. Harkai, Still Home: The Essential Poetry of Spartanburg (pp. 15-19). Spartanburg, SC: Hub City.

-----. (2008, Fall). aching, yellow wood to bare. root, 2(3), 21.

-----. (2007, Fall). mountain biking, upon hearing Adrienne rich speak and read her poetry. root, 1(2), 26-27.

-----. (2006, Spring). Wishing away the bars. James Dickey Newsletter, 22 (2), 41.

-----. (2003, Spring). rocks, scissors, paper—stoned. the echo, 11.

-----. (2002, November). Mary (sea of bitterness). English Journal, 92 (2), 118.

-----. (2001, May). Poetry showcase: if—pining, melting, leprosy, Mary (sea of bitterness), the death of us. drift, 1 (3), 29.

-----. (2001, January). michael has a beautiful voice. drift, 1 (2), 11.

-----. (2001, September). wishing away the bars, bones of contention, the me not me. drift,1 (1), 16, 18.

-----. (1998, Fall). blouses and skirts. The South Carolina Review, 31 (1), 138.

-----. (1997). Salvador Dali’s Daughter Mine. Writers INC, 33.

-----. (1997, January). michael has a beautiful voice. The Carolinian, 29 (13), 12.

-----. (1996, Spring). etching. The Old Red Kimono, 25, 45.

-----. (1994). 3 1/2’s (three halves). Outerbridge (25), 74.

-----. (1993, February). dairy road. South Carolina Writing Teacher, 3 (3), 4.

-----. (1992). don’t let your legs. Amelia: twenty, 12 (1), 158.

-----. (1990, Fall). She could. Cumberland Poetry Review, 10 (1), 48.

-----. (1989, Fall/Winter). Dairy road. Aura Literary/Arts Review, 27, 40-41.

-----. (1989, Fall). Dickey. Oregon English, 11 (2B), 35.

-----. (1987, January). Thoughts in silhouette. The Writer, 100 (1), 22-23.

-----. (1985). Nada y pues nada. The Piedmont Literary Review, 10 (3).

Teacher Education Piece at Journal of Educational Controversy

My piece based on the work of Maxine Greene is now up at the Journal of Educational Controversy.

Of Rocks and Hard Places—The Challenge of Maxine Greene’s Mystification in Teacher Education

26 January 2010 Op-Ed in The State

Bauer's comments reflect our own misconceptions

Sense Series Update

I am excited to announce that we are close to having the first three volumes of the new series with Sense under contract:

• Jeanne Gerlach's work on Sandra Cisneros

• My volume on comics and graphic novels (which I will support with a companion blog)

• Karen Stein's work on Rachel Carson

The literature of Haiti

See "A Hidden Haitian World" in The New York Review of Books

Call for Manuscripts: Sense series

Critical Literacy Teaching Series: Challenging Authors and Genres

Series Editor: P. L. Thomas, EdD, Furman University
Publisher: Sense

Kincheloe (2005) offers a foundational argument about the role of critical pedagogy in our classrooms:

"[P]roponents of critical pedagogy understand that every dimension of schooling and every form of educational practice are politically contested spaces. Shaped by history and challenged by a wide range of interest groups, educational practice is a fuzzy concept as it takes place in numerous settings, is shaped by a plethora of often-invisible forces, and can operate even in the name of democracy and justice to be totalitarian and oppressive." (p. 2)

This series will explore major authors and genres through a critical literacy lens that seeks to offer students opportunities as readers and writers to embrace and act upon their own empowerment. Further, the volumes in this series are guided by Freire (2005) as well:

"One of the violences perpetuated by illiteracy is the suffocation of the consciousness and the expressiveness of men and women who are forbidden from reading and writing, thus limiting their capacity to write about their reading of the world so they can rethink about their original reading of it." (p. 2)

We are seeking book-length manuscript proposals for volumes in this new series. Volumes may address individual authors or genres of literature.

Volume ideas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Authors:
Sandra Cisneros
Louise Erdrich
Rachel Carson
Alice Walker

Genres:
Graphic novels and comics
Children’s literature
Poetry
Novels
Nonfiction

Send proposal ideas or questions about potential volumes to the series editor, P. L. Thomas, by email (paul.thomas[at]furman.edu).

Series Editorial Board:

Karen Stein, PhD, University of Rhode Island

Shirley Steinberg, PhD, McGill University

Jeanne Gerlach, EdD, University of Texas-Arlington

Leila Christenbury, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University

Renita Schmidt, PhD, Furman University

Ken Lindblom, PhD, Stony Brook University

The anatomy of an Op-Ed. . .

A fellow professor at Furman, Sean O'Rourke, and I have discussed the Op-Ed, concluding that expressing an effective commentary in 750-850 words is akin to writing poetry.

Much of today I have been drafting an Op-Ed on the Harlem Children's Zone. Here are the resources I have been using to communicate a complex idea to the general public:

• David Brooks's Op-Ed titled "The Harlem Miracle," which is the primary focus for my discussion.

• Aaron Pallas's challenge to Brooks and the paper on HCZ by Dobbie and Fryer.

• Diane Ravitch's challenge to the praise of HCZ.

• Alex Molnar and Holly Yettick offer compelling discussions of how the media misrepresents educational research.

Sense Series

My new Sense series, Critical Literacy Teaching Series: Challenging Authors and Genres, is shaping up well.

I am excited to announce the following Editorial Board members for the series:

Karen Stein, PhD
Professor, English Dept.
University of Rhode Island

Shirley Steinberg, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Integrated Studies in Education
Director, The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy
McGill University

Jeanne Gerlach, EdD
Professor
Associate Vice President for K-16 Initiatives/ Dean
College of Education
University of Texas-Arlington

Leila Christenbury, PhD
Professor
English Education
School of Education
Virginia Commonwealth University

Renita Schmidt, PhD
Assistant Professor
Elementary Education, Literacy
Education
Furman University

Ken Lindblom, PhD
Associate Professor
Directior of the English Teacher Education Program
Stony Brook University
English Department
Editor, English Journal

New Op-Ed in The State

New president, same failed education policy